Improvement in hemp-brakes



W. SHELBY.

Hemp Brake.

Patented Nov. 2, 1858.

n versus, Phclbljihognphar. Washington. 11c.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM SHELBY, OF EWVAVERLY, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEM P-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 21 .983, dated November 2, 1858.

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SHELBY, of \Vaverly, in the county of Lafayette and State of Missouri, have invented a new and Improved Hemp andFlax Brakes,- and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of my invention,taken in the line 00 .r, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a top or plan view of same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a horizontal rectangular frame, which is properly supported at a suitable height, and on which two parallel bars, B B, are secured longitudinally at a suitable distance apart. 0 is a bar which is placed be tween the two bars 13 B and allowed to work freely between them.

To the under side of the bar 0 a traversebar, D, is attached, said bar resting on lOngi' tudinal bars E E, and to the traverse-bar D an inclined bar, F, is attached, said bar having one end of a connecting-rod, G, connected to it, the opposite end of the rod G being at tached to a crank, H, which is on the driving or power shaft H of the machine.

To the bars B B vertical blades I are attached. These blades may be constructed of wood and bound with metal rods or bars a. The blades I on each bar B are placed consecutively in reverse positions relatively with each other, the blades having oblique positions relatively with the sides of their bars B, as shown clearly in Fig. 2, the blades, owing to their position, forming spaces 1) c, the use of which will be presently shown.

The reciprocating bar 0 is provided with beaters J ,which are placed parallel with the sides of its bar, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The beaters J are not quite as high as the blades I. (See Fig. 1.) To the bars I, at

their inner ends, vertical metallic plates K are attached, said plates being attached to the bars near the inner edges of blades I,as shown clearly in Fig. 1.

The operation will be readily seen. The shaft H is rotated in any proper way, and a reciprocating motion is given the bar 0 by means of the crank H and connecting-rod G. Attendants are placed at each side of the machine and the flax or hemp is placed transversely on the frame A and in the spaces 11 c, as shown in red, and drawn through said spaces, each attendant having a suitable sized gavel or bundle of hemp or flax in his hands. The woody portion of the hemp or flax is broken by the action of the heaters J, which forces the hemp or flax against the stationary blades I on the bars B B. The hemp or flax has its woody fiber broken in the spaces 1). In these spaces the edges of the blades I and J are a considerable distance apart, and consequently the wood is merely loosened or broken; but when they are placed in the spaces 0 the bruised wood is completely cleaned out from the fibrous-portion in consequence of the inner edges of the blades 0 and the heaters J being quite near each other, the plates K yielding to a certain extent as the hemp or flax is drawn past them and aiding materially in cleaning the woody portion of the hemp or flax from the fibrous portion.

This machine may be constructed at a small cost, and it will perform its work rapidly and in an efficient manner.

I do not claim, broadly, the invention of reciprocating beaters or blades for hemp-machines; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement of the beaters or blades I J .at varying distances, in combination with the yielding plates K, as and for the purposes herein shown and described.

\VILLIAM SHELBY.

\Vitnesses:

I. E. YoURER, THOMAS BLACKBURN. 

